MOKO

Tenei matou te hunga moko e tu nei i roto i tenei ao

Hurihuri ao tangata

Chorus:

I wear my pride upon my skin

My pride has always been within

I wear my strength upon my face

Comes from another time and place

Bet you didn't know that every line has a message for me

Did you know that

The word tattoo describes the marking of patterns by

Inserting coloured dyes under a smooth skin

The word moko represents a traditional custom in which

Spirals unique to Maori are carved deeply below the skins

Surface to produce a groove scar - did you know that

Because the head the most sacred part of the body was touched

blood spilt the whole ceremony was tapu

The tip of a birdbone chisel dipped into sooty black pigment

Tapped by a beater to the sound of songs created to soothe

The painful process of creating moko so don't use that word tattoo

Every spiral has a name ever line on the face don't use that word tattoo

Chorus

The classic Maori moko has the male bearing complex spirals on

Both cheeks both sides of the nose

Lines spread between the eyes to the temple the nose to the chin

Over nineteen names have been identified for different parts of the pattern

Women received kauae or chin moko

some copied their Mothers or grandmothers

others allowed the artist to express their creativity

The moko indicated genealogy, rank ,accomplishment

It represented masculinity, beauty, warriorhood, identity

So don't use that word tattoo

Chorus

The moko reflected the carvings and rafter patterns inside the Whare tipuna

but some were made so distinctive they were like an autograph

a beautiful signature written all over the face

In 1815 Te Pehi Kupe drew his own moko without the aid of a Mirror

every line firmly in his mind and then he drew the moko

Of his brother and his son

Did you know that

The moko reflected the Maori way of life

everything was connected, religion, war, lovemaking and death

For this generation, the kauae and moko were only seen in paintings

but now those images have come to life

Netana Whakaari said in 1921

You can lose your most valuable property through misfortune in various ways

you may be robbed of all your prized possessions

but of your moko you cannot be deprived

It will be your ornament and your companion until your last day

so don't use that word tattoo

Chorus

Korero ki nga tamariki tenei kaupapa ta moko he taonga

Tuku iho ki nga tipuna